Stark in the Name
by critikalrole
Summary: "Y'know what Stark means?" "It's… our last name?" "Yeah, but…" He sat down in front of her. "Do you know what the word itself means?" "Uh-uh," Manda said. "It means…someone who is extremely brave and strong." "Am I brave and strong, daddy?" Tony leaned back with a smile on his face. "Your last name is Stark, isn't it?" She nodded. "Then of course you are, and you always will be."
1. Meeting a Piece of You

_07-12-2000_

There were three things that Tony Stark cared about: keeping up his Playboy figure, weapon designs, and having a fling almost every few nights. He barely had time to himself, hell, if he didn't have Obie to cover his business trips every once in awhile then he wouldn't ever have any time to himself just relaxing. It was a fact that Tony was a busy man, but he wouldn't have it any other way. There was just something about all the fame and attention that made it all worthwhile. There wasn't anything him personally wouldn't change.

That didn't mean the universe was going to stick with it.

Tony was currently downstairs in his garage with his music blaring over the speakers that were hooked up on the walls so he could hear it clearly wherever he went. He was under the hood, replacing the battery from the old, vintage car that he had recently purchased. No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys were blaring through the room when the phone had started to ring.

Since the music was so loud there was no way that he could've heard it.

 _"Mister Stark?"_ JARVIS called out to Tony.

Tony got out from under the hood, taking the wrench from his mouth. "Yeah?"

 _"I do believe your phone is ringing, sir."_

Tony picked up the remote that controlled the stereo, muting it. He had to push things off of his dirty, scattered table to find the portable home phone that was ringing. The caller ID said that it was an unknown number, so he was a little wary of answering it.

Eh, what was the worst that could happen?

"Yeah?" Tony said into the phone once answering.

"Can I speak to Tony Stark, please?" A woman on the other end of the call asked.

"Speaking."

"My name is Sara from Child Protective Services." Tony's heart dropped, he knew he was going to get a call like this one of these days. "You there, Mister Stark?"

Tony cleared his throat. "Yes, yes I'm still here."

"Are you aware you have a daughter, Mister Stark?"

"Uh… No."

"Do you still reside in Malibu, California?"

"Yeah."

 _"High blood pressure detected, sir."_ JARVIS called to Tony who ignored him so he could still hear Sara on the phone.

"Well, we've been having reports that your daughter is in an abusive household, and since technically since you are still living we have to contact you first."

"Huh…"

"Mister Stark, are you willing and able to take care of your child?"

"I… One moment." Tony put the call on hold, sitting down while his heart was racing. "What do you think about this, JARVIS?"

There was a pause on the AI's end before speaking. " _Mister Stark, if I may, I believe it would a good idea to take custody of your daughter. Especially if she's, in fact, in an abusive home."_

Tony was staring at the wall across the room from him, thinking over this. He had no idea how to parent, even if he did he was so busy with his own life that he didn't know if he would be able to give her the time that she needed. On the other hand, he couldn't leave a child to stay in an abusive or a foster home when he knew damn well he could support them financially with no issue. Hell, there was no reason for him to say no.

Picking up the phone, Tony answered it again. "I'm able."

"That's wonderful to hear!" Sara said on the other side of the line, "It'll be filed under emergency custody until the courts give you full custody. We'll also have to do a full background check and have an inspection of your home."

"Wow… Sounds like a lot of work, but worth it. When and where do you want me to meet you."

* * *

Tony got ready as quick as he could as Sara and the local police wanted to meet at the woman's house. He grabbed his flip phone, calling Happy to fill him in on the situation.

"A daughter?!" Happy exclaimed.

"Yes, this is the third time I said it," Tony said as he got in his car. "What aren't you getting?"

"No, I get it. I'm just excited for you!"

"Well, don't get too excited, there may be a chance I won't get full custody right away."

"I'm sure you will, from what you said, it sounded like they were ready to give it to you."

"I need you to do me a favor. While I'm out, I need you to fill out one of the spare rooms with kid stuff. They'll be doing a house inspection who knows when."

"Only if she can call me Uncle Happy."

"Consider it done." He hung up the phone before driving to the address that was provided to him.

* * *

Pulling up to the small, run down house, Tony saw three police cars and a plain black car parked in the front. There was a woman dressed in a business suit that he had assumed was Sara. The drive there was enough to calm his nerves some, but actually getting to the house made the anxiety come back ten times worse than before. Tony took off his sunglasses, hooking them on his shirt collar as he walked up the the woman who was talking to the police.

"Are you Sara?" Tony asked her, standing behind her.

Turning around, the woman had no idea who was talking to her, but when she realized she had a huge smile on her face as if she was surprised that he showed up. "You came!"

"Of course I did. I had to show up to get my daughter, right?" Tony gave her a small smile. "So, how's this gonna work? Are we gonna walk in there to get her, or?"

"We're gonna let the police handle it, Mister Stark."

They watched as the police tried to politely knock on the door to give the woman a chance to surrender the little girl without causing a scene. At first there was nothing from the other side of the door, and Tony was about to ask if she was even home. That was, until, there was a loud crashing from the inside followed by a child screaming. Tony hasn't even met his daughter yet, but was already feeling extremely protective. The police kicked the door in, their pistols up as they entered the home. Of course, it was never so easy.

There was another scream coming from the house, this time it sounded like a grown woman, followed by yelling at the police to "get the fuck outta her castle." Mental note, Tony totally called it. He had a hunch that the lady was insane, only insane people beat their children and abuse them.

Although Tony has never been a parent, knowing the fact that his child was in that house instantly gave him parental instincts. And his parental instincts were telling him to get into that house right now and get his daughter out of there. On the other hand, he had no idea what that crazy bitch has on her, she could cause damage to either his daughter or himself.

Putting his pride aside, Tony started walking towards the house. Sara grabbed his arm from behind, stopping him from going any further.

"I think we should just let the police do the work, Mister Stark," she told him with a worried look on her face. "They'll get her out safe."

"Yeah, but-" Tony stopped talking, looking from her to the front of the house where the police had a woman who clearly hasn't bathed in months in handcuffs. He was feeling the anxiety building up in his chest again when he didn't see a child coming out of the house.

As soon as he was about to speak, another cop came out of the house with a girl who couldn't be more than three years old wrapped up in a blanket in his arms. The girl's eyes squinted, as if she had never seen the sun before. Her hair was matted, she had dirt all over her face and had quite a few bruises across her body. Tony felt furious that he wasn't aware he had a daughter, even more furious that nobody had told him so he could've taken her away from this life as soon as she was born. The mother was insane, saying how "the government was starting the nuclear fallout with Jesus."

"What's your name, sweetie?" Tony asked the girl since nobody bothered to give him her name. She just looked up at him with big brown eyes, as if she had no idea what to say to him. Tony tilted his head slightly to the side, waiting for her to say something. She was three, she should've been able to talk by now.

"Her name is Amanda Stark," Sara told her, running her fingers through Amanda's matted hair, causing the little girl to wince when it pulled too hard.

"She can't talk yet?"

"Yeah, or walk. She wasn't taught that, I guess."

Tony held his hands out to Amanda who just stared at him with confusion, she had no idea who this man was or why he was here now. The cop holding her gave handed her over.

"Would you like a DNA test to confirm that you are the father?" He asked Tony as a standard procedure.

Tony looked at the girl snuggling up to him. "Nah, look at those eyes. She's a Stark."

"Listen, Mister Stark-"

"Call me Tony," he interrupted Sara.

"Tony… I would like to just get this out of the way since you clearly are capable of taking care of your daughter. Since I have other cases to get to, would you mind just showing us the house and let us have a quick inspection?"

"Yeah, no problem. I have my friend setting up a room though."

"That's fine, as long as you have a room for her. Do you have a carseat for her?"

"Bought one before I came here. We should be set."

"I'll follow you there."

Sara smiled at him before getting into her black car, while waiting for Tony to get set, she was looking through all the paperwork that was needed to transfer all parental rights over to him. She was surprised at how smoothly this was all going, but… she knew that maybe Tony wouldn't take her when she told him of Amanda's condition.

Tony opened the backdoor of his car, putting Amanda in the car seat. She never seen or been in a car before, so the experience was all new to her. Although, she didn't care for the part where Tony had to buckle her in. She was struggling to get free even though the seat buckle was too tight around her so she couldn't do anything except whine about it.

"Okay, I'll be right back, sweetie," Tony told her before closing the back door.

Not understanding what was going on, Amanda was scared that she couldn't see Tony anymore. She was afraid that he was gone forever and was going to be left alone forever in this restraint. It wasn't long until she started crying in fear, she honestly just wanted to have more skin-to-skin contact. The only skin-to-skin contact she ever had in her life was when her mother smacked her while she was crying, but the caring kind that Tony provided was what she was craving.

Her ears perked up when she heard the driver side door open and then close. She saw her dad now sitting in front of the car. She held her hands out to him, saying that she wanted to be picked up without using words while tears were running down her face.

"What're you crying for, sweetie?" Tony asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror while putting his sunglasses back on. He reached in the backseat, grabbing onto one of Amanda's small hands for reassurance. "It's gonna be okay, hun. We'll be home soon."

He dialed Happy's cell-phone number as he started taking off with Sara's car following behind them. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while listening to the ringing, getting a little antsy waiting for him to pick up. Amanda seemed to be content now that Tony was in her sights again as she was babbling to herself. Physically she was a three year old, mentally she seemed to be a one year old, but Tony was prepared to give her a lot of time and attention to make sure she catches back up.

"Hello?" Happy answered, finally picking up the phone.

"There you are, was starting to think you took my money and ran with it," Tony said sarcastically with a smirk on his face. "How are things coming at the house?"

"Fine… fine…"

Tony raised an eyebrow, "you sure about that?"

"Just… uh… having a little trouble setting up the bed." Tony laughed through the phone, causing Happy to roll his eyes. "Look, not everyone is good at building things like you are."

"Whatever, as long as you have it. We're coming home for the inspection."

"What's her name? I'm dying to know!"

"Amanda Stark." Just hearing her name caused Amanda squeal loudly.

"Awww!" Happy cooed, hearing his niece through the phone.

"Be home soon." Tony hung up the phone, tossing it on the passenger's seat.

* * *

Back at the house, Tony and Sara parked in the front instead of the garage where Tony normally parks. Now thinking back on it, Tony realized that he had a lot of things he had to make child-proof before he let Amanda run free. Well, he could get Happy to do it for him.

He got out of the car, before he could get around to the other side of the car to get Amanda out, Sara caught his attention.

"Listen… Tony…" She started slowly, looking at the ground. "I should've told you something before you agreed to this."

"What?" Sara handed him a file that had Amanda's full records, including medical records. "What's this?"

"Amanda has a medical condition." She let out a shaky breath, worried about Tony's reaction to this. "While her mother was pregnant with her, she did a lot of drinking. She doesn't have fetal alcohol syndrome, but because of all the alcohol it caused Amanda to have kidney failure in both kidneys. She has to have dialysis treatments and medications which are listed in the file."

"Were you scared to tell me about this?"

Sara shrugged slightly. "A bit, I guess. I was worried that you wouldn't want to take her in due to the fact she has a medical condition. You'll be surprised how many parents about to take custody of children change their minds over that."

Tony smiled. "I appreciate you telling me, but that isn't going to change my mind. In fact, I'll make sure she has the best care possible."

"You truly are one of a kind. I wish more parents were like you."

Happy was standing outside waiting on them. "If you'll follow Happy he'll give you a tour of the place."

Sara smiled, going inside the house with Happy.

Tony opened the door on Amanda's side, she had a huge smile on her face when she saw him. She held her arms out to him, wanting to be held. "We're gonna try something a little different," Tony told her, unbuckling her from her seat. "I want to see if you can walk at least a little." He picked her up, then sat on the ground with her standing up. She could balance just fine, but couldn't seem to understand how to walk. Tony held out his hands to her after he scooted back a bit. "C'mere." He motioned her to walk towards him.

Amanda pouted, she didn't want to work for this, she just wanted to be held. Not even a day with Tony and she was already spoiled out of her mind.

"Don't be that way, c'mon."

Trying her best, Amanda took one step forward, wobbling a bit and was struggling to keep her balance. It was clear that she was ready to start walking, but was never actually given the push to do so at her old home. Amanda stood there for a minute, trying to decide what she was supposed to do now.

"One more time, c'mon, you're almost there." Amanda took another step, but that was as far as she could get before tumbling into Tony's arms. He chuckled, hugging her tight. "Good job. You'll get there soon I just know it."


	2. First Business Trip

_06-14-2001_

Normally Tony was busy with business trips and press conferences, but with Amanda around now he took almost a year off to stay with her, teaching her to walk and talk. As he expected, Amanda learned both things rather quickly. Her first word was "JARVIS" due to the fact that Tony said his name a lot to help him around the house. Surprised as he was, Tony was extremely proud of her for her first word. The whole day that day, JARVIS was flustered with Miss Stark saying his name before anyone else's.

Now that Amanda was taught the basic things that a three year old should've known by now, Tony decided that it was time to go back to the business trips. Also, he was sure that Obie was getting annoyed taking care of them all by now, even though he understood the situation. The other night, Obie had called him, saying that he had to be in on this presentation party to reveal the new weapon that was just finished testing. Knowing that it he should go, he couldn't wrap his head around leaving Amanda at home alone. Of course, he trusted Happy with all he got, but the fact that they would be far away from each other was the part that made Tony anxious as hell. That's when he decided that he would be taking Amanda and Happy with him.

* * *

Amanda watched her dad rush around her room, packing up small toys and clothes for her for their trip. She had no idea what was going on, but she just watched since she came to realize that her dad did a lot of weird things that she couldn't understand. She lost interest in watching her dad and went back to coloring in her coloring book. It was her new favorite coloring book filled with animals, it was her favorite because Tony had gotten it for her fourth birthday. She never had a proper birthday before and was happy that she spent it with her dad and Uncle Happy. At this point, Amanda had almost completely forgotten about her mother, despite the fact that for the first few months she had nightmares about her mother beating her, but soon she forgot all about it.

Tony knelt down behind her, holding her small rain jacket in his hands. "Ready to go, sweetie?" He asked her, rubbing her back.

She looked up at him with a puzzled looked on her face. "Where are we going, daddy?" She asked, holding her arms out so Tony could put her jacket on her. "Are we gonna see Uncle 'appy?"

"Mmm… Kinda. He's gonna go with us." He stood up, Amanda's bag behind his shoulder. He held out his hand to his four year old daughter, who grabbed it and stood up. "We're gonna go on a business trip."

"Whas' a business trip?" She asked as they went downstairs. "Are we going bye-bye?"

"We sure are. We're going to Vegas. That's in a whole new state, do you know which state Vegas is in?"

"Um…" Amanda thought hard, as they had both went over states and their capitals. "Ne… Nevida?"

Tony chuckled, picking her up as they went outside where it was still raining. "It's pronounced _Nevada_." He put her in her car seat. "But I'll give you credit for trying." Tony kissed her forehead before closing the door. While getting into the driver's seat, Tony took out his phone and called Happy to make sure he was still going.

"I'm 'wake," Happy said in a drowsy tone.

"Good morning to you too. We'll be at the plane in fifthteen minutes, you sure you're awake?"

"I'm 'wake," Happy repeated again.

"Hope so, Manda is looking forward to seeing you."

"Are you talking to Uncle 'appy!" Manda asked loudly from the backseat that Happy could hear her. "I wanna talk to him!"

Tony put his phone on his shoulder, turning around to face Manda while stopped at a right red. "What do you say?"

"Please, daddy?"

"That was polite, but not what I was looking for."

Manda let out an overdramatic sigh, kicking her feet up. "Daddy, you're the coolest and smartest dad ever."

"Good job." He handed the phone back to Manda, who was excited to talk to Uncle Happy again.

"Hi, Uncle 'appy," Manda said into the phone. "Are you gonna come with us to the 'usiness trip?"

"I sure am. I gotta make sure that you and your dad are okay while traveling."

"We'll be okay Uncle 'appy, because you are strong and can beat up anyone."

Tony looked at her through the rear view mirror. "What about me? I'm strong too."

"If you were strong, 'ow come you need Uncle 'appy to make sure you're okay?"

Happy was laughing on the other end of the call. "I'll talk to you when I see you, okay, kiddo?"

"Okay, Uncle 'appy. I love you."

"I love you too."

Manda closed the flip phone, fiddling around with the antenna that was on top. Tony turned on his CD player in the center console, playing _Brass Monkey_ by Beastie Boys. Manda smiled real big, as this was her favorite song by her favorite band.

* * *

"Whoa…" Manda said under her breath when they arrived at her dad's private jet. She knew what an airplane was, but she never seen one up close before. "Are we gonna ride in that?" She asked, looking up at Tony who was talking to Uncle Rhody.

"We sure are." Tony knelt down next to her so they were at the same level. He pointed up to the side of the jet where it said _Stark Industries_ on it. "What's that say?"

"Huh..." she drifted off, staring at the plane. "S...St..ar..k."

"And altogether?"

"St..ark. Stark." She had a huge smile on her face when she was able to read it. "It says Stark."

"Thaaat's right." Tony picked her up, walking up the stairs to the plane. "Y'know what Stark means?"

"It's… our last name?"

"Yeah, but…" He put her down when they got on the plane, she took a seat next to a window. He sat down in front of her. "Do you know what the word itself means?"

"Uh-uh," Manda said flatly, she was more interested of what was outside the window than to Tony's question. She turned around to face him when he patted her leg to get her attention.

"It means…" He leaned forward, putting on the seat belt on Manda, "someone who is extremely brave and strong."

"Am I brave and strong, daddy?"

Tony leaned back with a smile on his face. "Your last name is Stark, isn't it?" She nodded. "Then of course you are, and you always will be."

The plane was about to take off, the rumbling and shaking of the floor scared the hell out of Manda. She looked up at Tony to see what his reaction to this was, to see if she should be scared of the plane. Tony was busy talking with Uncle Rhody and Uncle Happy, he didn't seemed to be phased at all about the plane about to take liftoff. If that was the case, Manda did all she could to keep calm about the plane as well, although, it was somewhat hard due to normal childhood anxiety. She tried to do the breathing exercises that Tony had taught her to do when she was about to sleep for the night and was worried about nightmares, that seemed to do the trick. Until the plane started its takeoff.

Manda squealed out of fear, managing to squirm her way out of the loose fitting seat belt. She quickly scrambled into Tony's lap, burying his face in his shoulder. She heard him chuckle softly, his hand now running slow circles on her back to try and calm her.

"Shh…" He tried. "It's alright, we're okay. See?" He shifted her in his arms so she was now looking out the window. The ground was now 3,000 feet under them, the clouds were up close and larger than usual. "We're flying."

"Flying?" Manda repeated, glued to the window once more. "Whoa! Like a superhero?"

"Right, like a superhero." Tony kissed the side of her head.

* * *

A two hour plane ride felt like less than thirty minutes to Manda, in fact, she didn't want it to land. She wanted to keep flying to places and watch the world run under them. She loved being right next to the clouds, seeing all the large towns and cities turn into small mites right under her. She just loved everything about it.

"Ride's up, kiddo," Tony announced to Manda, coming up from behind her and lifting her up to sit on his shoulders. She laughed happily when she was on his shoulders, she liked being tall. "Happy, grab the bags."

Happy mimicked Tony in a high pitched voice, causing Manda to laugh even harder.

"Blah blah blah."

"What time's the party tonight, boss?" Happy asked Tony in a normal tone, following him outside to the car that was waiting for them.

"About nine, so we'll get there at ten."

"Ten?" Manda questioned, tangling her fingers through Tony's hair, "that's too late, daddy. You'll get in trouble, besides, there's gonna be cake."

"Cake, huh? What makes you say that?"

"Well, you said it was a party, right?"

"Not that kinda party." Tony picked Manda up again, putting her down on the ground. She wobbled a bit due to the plane ride, but held onto Tony's pants to catch herself. "Easy there, hotshot. Get in the car, chop chop."

"Chop chop," Manda repeated, crawling onto the backseat, "there isn't a seat for me!"

"Huh… Well, I guess it's not that far to the hotel," Tony said, getting in next to her. "Happy! No speeding, we have precious cargo."

"Manda?" Happy asked from the driver's seat.

"No. Me."

* * *

Tony and Manda checked into their own hotel room with Happy staying right next door to them. They were on the top floor, the sixth floor, the hotel was a pretty decent size. Manda didn't understand why they had to stay at the hotel when they have a perfectly good home, since she thought they were actually moving into the place. But once Tony explained it, she was a little more than disappointed. There was something about tall window views that always grabbed her attention. It was most likely due to the fact that she really wanted to fly like a superhero she'd seen on TV.

It was nearing nine, outside the window, Manda could see the party about to start from down the road. It flashed the Stark Industries logo on the front of the building. There were bright lights flashing to get people's attention, it surely got Manda's attention.

While she was looking out the window, Tony was kicking back on the couch watching the news. There were already news reporters on the scene of the reveal party of Stark Industries new weapon. There was a red carpet with hundreds of people standing on either side getting pictures of whoever happened to walk by. There was one face that Tony recognized.

The news reporter managed to take Obadiah Stane aside to have a small interview with him.

 _"Knowing the fact that Tony Stark hasn't been able to show up to any of his business meetings and parties in the past year, is he showing up tonight?"_ The news reporter asked Obadiah.

 _"For the first time in a year Tony will be coming out tonight, yes."_

After hearing Obie's statement, Tony shut off the TV, looking over at Manda who was still fascinated with all the cars and pretty lights going on outside. Well, better get this started. Along with breaking out some bad news.

Tony got on the floor next to Manda. He grabbed her, placing her on his lap to get her full attention. "We gotta talk, kiddo," he told her.

"About what?"

"So, you know how we're on a business trip, right?"

"Right."

"Well… After this one, I'm gonna have to start going on more of them."

"On the plane?"

"Yeah, the plane will be involved."

"Ooo! I can't wait to ride it again! When's the next one?"

Tony started rubbing her back, knowing that she was going to be upset at the answer. "For you? Not for a long time. You're gonna have to stay with Uncle Happy while I go to the trips."

Manda stared at him as if he was talking in some unknown language, but once it all processed through her mind, she frowned. "Then why did I go on this one! I want to go on all of them!"

"Talk about it later."

* * *

Since Manda was still a child, people didn't expect her to dress up super fancy or anything, but that didn't stop Tony from making her somewhat presentable. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt, sweatpants, but she refused to put shoes on. It was getting too late to fight with her on it, so Tony let that go just this once. Manda couldn't stay still in the backseat of the car that Happy was driving them to the party. She was eager to see what the party was going to be like, she assumed it was going to be a children's party. Y'know, balloons, cake, party hats, the works. She was going to end up disappointed.

The car pulled up to the front of the building, Manda was standing up on her knees on the seat, looking outside. There were bright, flashing lights coming from cameras that seemed to come from all angles. All the lights flickering at once was actually starting to scare Manda a bit, she knew that lights shouldn't be going around like that all at once.

She whimpered as Tony scooped her up before they got out of the car. As soon as they stepped out of the car, the crowd who had been taking pictures started cheering loudly, seeing Tony back out in the public eye for almost a year would be a great marketing for their photos. Tony walked through the picture taking crowd without another thought, he had been used to this kinda treatment since he was around Manda's age, so he knew how to deal with it. _Just walk through it and don't pay too much attention to it_ , Howard would used to tell Tony during their own events similar to this. That was probably something he should've told Manda before they got out here tonight.

Getting to the stairs of the building seemed to take forever, like the carpet was ever growing, making it longer and longer with each step. Waiting there for them was Obadiah Stane with a smile on his face. He had met Tony's daughter a couple times before, in fact, he kinda put the name Uncle Obie into Manda's mind. Even though Tony never introduced him as that, so he went with it.

"There they are!" He exclaimed, his smile growing larger seeing Manda. "C'mere." He took Manda from Tony, resting her on his left hip. "Let's get some pictures before we head inside, sound good?" He asked them, well, mainly Manda. Tony just shrugged, turning back around to face the crowd of people who were just waiting for the chance at this. Manda whined loudly, burying her head in Obie's shoulder to get away from the lights as much as she could. Oh, what she would give to be back with Tony right now, as she wasn't overly fond of Obie, but had to deal with it.

"Lets just get this over with," Tony announced to Obie, turning back around to go inside with Obie and Manda following after him.

"What? Already ready for the after-party?" Obadiah asked with a smirk on his face.

"You bet. I've been waiting for a drink."

As soon as they got to the backstage, an announcer went over the PA, telling everyone to prepare themselves for the upcoming presentation.

"Wait, wait, wait," Obie caught Tony by the arm before he went out on stage, "you have a spot on your coat." He tried dusting it off the best that he could. Besides, looking the part was majority of any presentation. "You're ready."

Manda watched Tony with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to get left behind while he goes, to her, God knows where. All in all, she didn't want to stay here with Uncle Obie, he gave her these odd vibes that she was too young to understand.

"Actually, not ready," Tony said, quickly scooping up Manda from Obie's arms, "now I'm ready."

He heard Obie starting to protest about taking his daughter out on stage with him, but he was getting himself mentally prepared for this presentation. Walking out on stage, the first thing Manda noticed was the _Stark Industries_ sign being projected on the screen behind them. She pointed up at it to get her dad's attention, but that's not what he was focused on at the moment. You could hear some _aww's_ coming from the crowd when they realized that that was his daughter.

"Yes, she's adorable and gonna be a total heartbreaker when she's older," was the first thing that Tony said, taking note at all the attention his daughter was getting. "Although, she won't be allowed to date until after she's married." There were some laughs coming from the crowd on that. Tony held out a wireless presentation slider to Manda. "Are you gonna help daddy give his presentation?"

"Yeah!" Manda said with a huge smile on her face. She was about to grab it from him, but he moved it up higher so she couldn't reach. "Daddy! Give it!" She tried reaching for it, her small fingers could barely brush the bottom of the remote.

"No pressing the button until I say so, promise?"

"'romise!" She grabbed it once it was down at her level.

There were more _aww's_ coming from the crowd once again with the exchange between the father and daughter.

"Getting back on the topic at hand…" Tony shifted Manda onto his other hip, clearing his throat. "The best kinda weapons are the ones that don't miss," he finally started, "ever. Go ahead and press it," he whispered to Manda.

Manda pressed the plus button at the top of the remote, changing the logo of Stark Industries to a demonstration of a 3D attack helicopter, the weapons on the front were highlighted a red color.

"Installing my new AKS-97 missiles on each and every attack helicopter, I can assure you that no matter the target, still or moving, it'll only take one shot to destroy it." Tony looked down at Manda, who was fidgeting around with the remote. "If my lovely assistant would press the next button I would show you a lovely demonstration."

She pressed the button again, immediately starting the video. Tony took Manda off stage, praising her for her good job and how she was turning out to be a regular Stark.


	3. Meeting Miss Potts

_12-03-2001_

It was almost nine in the morning, surprisingly Manda was waking up early. Normally she woke up at around noon, a habit that she clearly picked up from her father, but she didn't go to school yet so it didn't matter. Waking up late meant that both her and Tony went to bed at around two in the morning, she would stay up late watching him tinker with old cars or making new weapons for the company. Either way, she enjoyed spending time with him.

Manda had been staring up at the ceiling for a good fifteen minutes, trying to wake up some more before even thinking about getting out of bed. There was one thing for sure: she was not a morning person. She would be grouchy until she had her morning chocolate milk; basically the child equivalent to an adult having coffee.

It seemed to have been a normal morning so far, although, she couldn't figure out what had woke her up so damn early. The lights haven't been turned on, JARVIS hasn't turned off the shaders over her windows to wake her up. What was it? Was she hungry? No. That wasn't it either… What was it?

Wait… What was that?

There was a faint, soft voice that was coming from downstairs that she didn't recognize at all. Sure, she met a lot of different people because of Tony, but she would normally recognize voices, but this was one that she couldn't put a match to. It was time to investigate.

Manda pulled the blanket slowly and quietly off of her so she could get out of bed without making too much noise. If Tony was hiding something, or someone, from her, then she wanted to catch it before that happened. Manda got out of her bed, standing on her tiptoes, making her way across the messy room that had toys and clothes scattered all over the floor. It was kinda hard to avoid stepping on all the Legos. Even though Manda was four years old, she knew that one step on a Lego meant a foot amputation. Or, at least, that's what it felt like.

Another great advantage of living in a huge, newly constructed mansion, was that you didn't exactly have to sneak around to make sure you didn't step on any creaky floorboards. All you really had to worry about was making sure that you didn't stomp too hard, that was the only reason you would get caught sneaking around. Well, it's not like Manda has done this before, but she quickly picked up on it in case she did want to. Well, being four years old, she didn't really have anywhere to sneak out too unless it was the freezer downstairs to get extra ice cream.

Manda's door was already opened, so she didn't have to worry about the clicking and squeaking while getting out of her room. She tiptoed through the hallway to the top of the stairs. From there, she could hear everything that was being said and they had no idea that she was even there. A smirk crossed Manda's face, she felt like a ninja, or a superhero that could turn invisible.

Sitting on the top step, Manda's legs were dangling over the edge, her toes barely touching the second step. Holding her breath, she heard her dad and some woman's voice that she didn't recognize. It was normal that her dad brought unfamiliar women home with him sometimes, but normally they were gone before she woke up. Normally Tony would bring them upstairs, tell Manda to go to her room for the night, unless she needed something, in that case she had to quickly take care of it then she has to go right back into her room. He wasn't ever mean about it either, he actually made sure that she was taken care of, had dinner, had a bath, make sure she was read to, then once everything was settled Tony would then have his fun for the night.

 _"...yeah, her name is Amanda,"_ she heard Tony tell the woman, _"she has this… medical issue…"_

 _"If you don't mind me asking, Mister Stark, but what kinda medical issue?"_

 _"She… she's had kidney failure since birth. It just-"_

" _Mister Stark,"_ JARVIS had cut in, _"I do believe you have someone eavesdropping."_

Glancing up the stairs, Tony couldn't see Manda herself, but he did notice the shadow of her feet hanging down off the edge. "Manda! C'mere!"

Manda's eyes went wide. How did he know that she was up there? She didn't have a clue, but she made her way downstairs, thinking that she was in some major trouble for sneaking around to listen in on them. A small ball of anxiety was building up in her chest, as she didn't know what her dad was going to do or how he was going to react to this. Was she going to get in trouble? Was she going to get grounded? The possibilities were endless.

"Yes, daddy?" Manda almost whispered, thinking that he was going to scold her again. Next to Tony sat a tall woman with shoulder length red hair, freckles, and blue eyes who was smiling at her. This wasn't a normal visit from what Manda could tell, she could feel that her dad was much more relaxed than he normally was when he had women over. "Are you supposed to be my new mom?"

The woman chuckled softly, looking over at Tony then back to Manda. "No, sweetie. I'm gonna be here to help you and your dad around the house."

"Her name is Pepper," Tony said, grabbing Manda and putting her on his lap. "Think she'll be a good helper?"

"Yeah!"

"Welcome aboard, Miss Potts."


	4. First Day of First Grade

_9-8-2002_

Most celebrities have their children go to the most private school in the area or have them homeschooled. The key word is: most. Tony had decided that it probably wouldn't be such a bad idea for Manda to go to public school for first grade. Being worried about Manda having to walk quite a bit away for the bus stop and what could happen from point A to point B, Tony decided he would personally take her to and from school. He thought that it wouldn't be a bad thing for her to go out and meet and socialize with children her own age. The only people who Manda ever even socialized with was her dad (clearly), Pepper, Uncle Happy, Uncle Rhodey, and Uncle Obie, it exactly wasn't a life meant for a five year old, but it was her life.

Manda wasn't too keen on this idea, she didn't want to go to school for eight hours a day, five days a week, no, she wanted to spend all her time down in Tony's garage with him rebuilding cars. That was something special that they did together. Or, as Pepper put it, their "bonding time," Tony thought that calling it that was silly, but it was true even though the two Stark's didn't consider it to be like that. The first car they had fixed up was a 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster, Manda was pretty proud of the car. All she wanted to do was sit in the garage more and fix up another car that Tony had recently brought home for them to work on. She tried everything that she could possibly think of to get Tony to change his mind about making her to go school (even trying to bribe him with money that she didn't have), but nothing worked so she was going no matter what.

It was 7:00 in the morning, and the first day of first grade started at 8:00. It took a while for Manda to fall asleep that night due to the fact she had some anxiety and was extremely nervous about going to her first day of school ever. Honestly, she never interacted with any other child before and had no clue on how this was going to turn out. Normal children spent their time playing outside with their friends and experiencing all these great things, going on family trips, having sleep overs… Then there was Manda. All she did was rebuild cars with her dad, occasionally go on business trips, and spent a lot of time with her Uncle's and Miss Pepper (maybe a little more time with them than with Tony).

Manda heard Tony walking around in the room next to hers, in all honesty, she had been up since 6:30 due to her nerves, but didn't wake Tony incase he may mistake her nerves for excitement. She wrapped herself tighter in her Jurassic Park comforter, what she would give to be able to stay home all day. A million thoughts were running through her head right now, such as: when would I get home? Would dad be there to pick me up? Is he leaving me there forever? Will the other kids like dinosaurs as much as I do? Totally not prepared for today.

There was a soft knock on Manda's door, causing her to shut her eyes quickly to pretend that she was asleep. Maybe, just maybe, if Tony saw that she was asleep he would let her stay home. At this point, she was doubting that it would work, but it was best to try anything at this point. What about being sick? There was no way that Tony would let her go to school sick, right? Just had to fake a cough and sniffle a bit and Manda should be in the clear for the next two days.

The door slowly opened, Tony peeked in, seeing that Manda was clearly faking being asleep. Her eyes were closed too tight to be actually sleeping, but he couldn't help but smile on her for trying.

"Next time you wanna try being fake asleep, make sure your eyes are shut too tight, kinda ruins the realism," Tony said, leaning in the doorway of the room. Manda opened one eye, looking up at her dad who was dressed already. "I know you don't wanna go, but the law says you have to, yada yada yada." Tony shrugged.

"I'm too sick to go, daddy. Honest." Manda did a small fake cough to try to "prove her case." But it wasn't too convincing. At all. "I should totally stay home today and play video games."

"Mmhm… totally…" He answered sarcastically, "JARVIS, check for fever."

 _"97.5°F, sir,"_ JARVIS' voice rang through the room.

"Tattletale…" Manda muttered under her breath.

"C'mon, chopchop." Tony walked over to her bed, ripping the comforter off of her, throwing it onto the messy floor. "I'm not gonna be happy if we're gonna be late on the first day."

Manda smirked while sitting up in bed. "But we can be late on any other day, right?"

Tony just stared at her, he had totally set himself up for that. "Funny," he finally said sarcastically, "Get up, c'mon."

She layed back on the back, and without looking, she started feeling around on her nightstand. When she located her kazoo, she blew into it, making it make a high pitched noise. "Nooope," she said after taking the kazoo out of her mouth, but then placed it back in while staring up at the ceiling.

"Manda-" She blew into the kazoo again, cutting him off. "I'm being seriou-"

 _Zoooo._  
"You-"

 _Zoooo_  
"Can you st-"

 _Zooo._  
Tony narrowed his eyes at her before taking the kazoo that was hanging out of her mouth.

"Hey!" Manda whined, trying to take the kazoo back from him but it was too far out of reach.

"You're never getting this back. It's annoying."

Sitting up in bed, Manda opened the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out another kazoo.

"I swear to Go-"

 _ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_

Snatching the other kazoo, Tony was seriously getting annoyed by his daughter's behavior. "Either you can get dressed now and get ready, or… or…" He thought about it for a minute, he wasn't good at punishments. He got it. "Or else you won't be able to ever help me rebuild a car again."

Manda's eyes went wide. There, that got her attention. She swung her legs over her bed, hopping down onto the floor. "Get out! I have to get ready!" She tried pushing him out of her room, but Tony was purposely making it hard. "Dad! Out! Out! Out!" Tony couldn't help but laugh at her. "Why are you making this difficult?!"

"Because you're a weirdo."

"I learned it from you. Now go!" Laughing again, Tony left the room, closing the door behind him.

Manda looked at the digital alarm clock on her other nightstand, in a green LED, it displayed the time being 7:13. What time was school supposed to start? Eight? Well, crap, if that was the time then she didn't have too much time left to goof around. As quickly as she possibly could, she put on a stegosaurus t-shirt, shorts, and her pair of light up shoes before running downstairs where she saw Tony sitting on the couch sipping coffee, looking at the newspaper.

"What?!" Manda exclaimed when she saw him, "So you can sit around and I can-" Tony interrupted her with the same kazoo she used to do the same thing a bit ago. She frowned, folding her arms over her chest. "That isn'-"

 _Zoooo_

"Dad!"

He looked up at her, the kazoo hanging from his mouth. "Sucks, doesn't it?" He tossed the newspaper next to him on the couch. "Are you ready?"

"No. I want to stay here."

"Too bad." He stood up, stretching. "Guess what I'm gonna do when I get home?"

"What?" She took the backpack that Tony was holding out to her.

"I'm gonna nap."

Manda frowned again. "That isn't fair! I have to stay up being around people I dunno and hate while you're here napping!"

"That's life." Tony grabbed one of his many car keys. "Chopchop. Clock's tickin' down."

Before going outside to the car, Manda made sure to say goodbye to JARVIS. She was moving as slow as she possible could to get into her car seat at first, until Tony reminded her that if they were late she wouldn't be able to rebuild cars with him anymore.

The drive to the elementary school seemed to both take forever and also too quick. Both feelings were caused by nerves. She looked at the dinosaur printed backpack that was sitting in her lap, picking at the loose threads. Why couldn't she just stay home? Tony had taught Manda some things in the past to prepare for school, although, he went a little overboard on getting her ready. He taught her things that children normally wouldn't learn until they were in the 3rd grade, such as, multiplication, division, simple chemical reactions, and classifying matter. Pepper insisted that that was too much for the first grade and that was most likely stuff kids would learn in about fifth grade. Of course, Tony couldn't care less, if Manda was willing to learn then he would teach her.

"Daaaaad…." Manda whined from the backseat when they pulled into the parking lot of the busy elementary school. Apparently everyone wanted to drop off their child in person today. "Why can't you just keep teaching me at home!"

"You'll learn a lot more here."

"You're the smartest guy in the world, daddy. You know everything!"

Tony chuckled, pulling into a parking space. "That is true. Flattering me isn't gonna make you stay home from school."

"Worth a shot."


End file.
